King Abdullah of Jordan Meets with Peres in Davos

President Shimon Peres met with King Abdullah of Jordan and reassured him of Israel's intentions to relinquish territory to the Western-backed PA.

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Avi Yellin, 29/01/10 10:16 | updated: 10:41

King Abdullah with Map of Israel and Jordan

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Israeli President Shimon Peres met with Jordanian King Abdullah Thursday evening at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. The two leaders discussed renewing negotiations between the State of Israel and the American-backed Palestinian Authority as well as their plans to have Israel surrender Judea and Samaria to the PA.

Judea, Samaria and most of Jerusalem were illegally occupied by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for 19 years following its British-led invasion into the nascent Jewish state until being won back by Israel during the Six Day War of 1967. The Western powers and Arab countries today demand that these lands now be used for the creation of a new Arab state to be run by the Fatah-led PA.

At the start of the pre-arranged meeting, King Abdullah expressed concerns regarding the current freeze in negotiations between Israel and the PA. He added that the current political freeze has implications for the entire region and expressed his hope that negotiations will shortly resume on the basis of two states for two peoples within what is currently Israel.

Analysts have pointed out that the Jordanian monarch has an interest in the speedy establishment of a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria. The Hashemite Kingdom, which is itself an artificially created state, has a majority population that defines itself as ethnically Palestinian.

Member of Knesset Professor Aryeh Eldad (National Union) elaborated on the above, telling Israel National News on Friday that Jordan is already the Palestinian state and that the only factor allowing the international community to continue ignoring this reality is the lack of democratic elections in the Hashemite kingdom. “Jordan was created in 1922 as a puppet kingdom to serve British imperialist interests. British Colonial Secretary Winston Churchill took 77 percent of Palestine, the historic homeland of the Jewish people, and created a colonialist kingdom where today over 90 percent of the population identify themselves as Palestinian Arabs. If Jordan were to allow democratic elections, the world would be forced to recognize it as both the de jure and de facto Palestinian Arab state. Abdullah hopes that the creation of a Palestinian Arab state in portions of Israel will ease pressure on his kingdom to become what it truly is.”

President Peres attempted to ease King Abdullah’s concerns by assuring him that the current Israeli government is committed to dividing the Land of Israel and allowing for the creation of a PA state.